The invention concerns a device and a corresponding method for removing a consumable analytic product, in particular a test element, from a storage container having one or more chambers. The chambers each contain one or more consumable products and each have a removal opening for removal of a consumable product and an insertion opening lying across from the removal opening for the introduction of a plunger to transport the consumable product being removed. The removal opening and the insertion opening are each sealed with a foil (also designated as a sealing foil) for storing the consumable product. In order to remove a consumable product, a plunger is displaced by a drive unit and the consumable product is transported by the plunger out of the storage container chamber.
Carrier-bound quick tests have been established for use in laboratories specializing in the chemical and biochemical analysis of solid and liquid sample materials and, in particular, also for use outside of such specialized laboratories. Such carrier-bound quick tests are based on specially developed dry chemistry and can even be carried out by laymen in a simple and uncomplicated way despite the complex reactions frequently used and the associated sensitive reagents.
A conventional example for carrier-bound quick tests is a test element for determining the blood sugar content in diabetics. Diagnostic test elements configured in a strip-like fashion are also designated as test strips. Conventional embodiments are e.g. single or multiple field test strips for urine analysis and various indicator papers. Since other types of carrier-bound tests are also available in addition to test elements having strip shapes, one speaks, in general, of analytic test elements.
Within the context of the invention, analytic test elements can be evaluated visually or by an apparatus. Test elements which can be evaluated using an apparatus include e.g. test elements which can be evaluated optically, in particular photometrically, and electrochemical sensors and the like. Analytic test elements of this kind and other consumable products are packed in a storage container to protect them from damaging environmental influences such as light, moisture and mechanical effects or to store them under sterile conditions. In addition to test elements, consumable analytic products can include e.g. lancets or sampling elements.
Since these types of analytic consumable products have been thoroughly described in prior art and are completely familiar to one of average skill in the art in a plurality of embodiments, detailed description thereof is unnecessary here. Instead, reference is made to e.g. the following documents: DE-A 19753847.9, EP-A 0138152, EP-A 0821233, EP-A 0821234, EP-A 0630609, EP-A 0565970 and WO 97/02487.
Analytic consumable products are stored in a storage container made from a rigid material to protect them from the influence of optical radiation or from moisture in the air and from soiling, bacteria and dust as well as from mechanical influences. Should the storage container hold a plurality of consumable products, these are normally accommodated in individual chambers, wherein the chambers can each contain one or a plurality of consumable products. A storage container can also contain various types of analytic consumable products, e.g. test elements and lancets, each in their own chamber.
In order to remove a consumable product, one of the chambers is opened by rupturing the foils sealing the removal opening and the insertion opening. Consumable products can thereby be removed from chambers when needed without opening the other chambers so that the consumable products contained in the unopened chambers can continue to be stored in a secure fashion.
The storage containers and chambers can be configured in the must differing of fashions and contain, in many cases, a supply of drying agent for protection against moisture. The storage containers can be provided with a data storage medium, e.g. a label having a readable print, a barcode label or a magnetic strip upon which charge-specific data and optional additional information concerning the analytic consumable product can be stored and recalled.
The analytic consumable products can be removed from the storage container either manually or, preferentially, using a mechanical device, wherein the consumable products remaining in the storage container within the unopened chambers continue to be protected by the individual sealing foils. Removal of the consumable product is effected by pushing it out of the chamber using a plunger.
Storage containers for analytic consumable products and the corresponding apparatus for removal of the consumable products are thoroughly described in prior art and are familiar to one of average skill in the art in a plurality of embodiments. In this connection, reference is made e.g. to the following documents: EP-A 0622119, EP-A 0732590, EP-A 0738666, U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,414, U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,266, U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,924 and, in particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,410 as well as DE-A 19854316.
The storage containers, also designated as magazines, are normally conceived for use in a measuring apparatus, in particular in a compact measuring apparatus. In order to accept a storage container in a measuring apparatus in which a consumable product is to be removed from the storage container with the assistance of a plunger, appropriate means can be provided, in particular, for the precise positioning of the storage container relative to the functional components of an analytic apparatus, in particular relative to a plunger, for removal of the consumable product.
Removal of the consumable product is often automated, e.g. to prevent improper operation or to increase user friendliness. In these cases, the plunger effecting removal of a consumable product is moved by a drive unit including an electrical drive motor and optionally a transmission. Examples of conventional manual, motor driven and automated devices for the removal of analytic consumable products from storage containers are described in the documents cited above.
The storage containers with which the invention is concerned are closed on each of two oppositely disposed openings with foils which must be ruptured when the consumable product is removed. The plunger initially penetrates through the foil covering the insertion opening and into the chamber of the storage vessel where it pushes against the consumable product to be removed. The foil covering the removal opening is then torn open in an outward direction by the front end of the consumable product in feeding direction and the consumable product is pushed out of the chamber or brought into a working position. An intrinsic property of this transport procedure is that relatively large forces are required in certain regions of the transport path, e.g. when penetrating through the two foils or when positioning a test element in a predetermined position of a measurement holder, whereas only relatively small thrusting forces are required during the remaining transport path.
The choice of materials and thickness of the foils which are used to seal the openings in the storage container chambers is limited by two requirements. On the one hand, they must be sufficiently strong to provide adequate protection and must not constitute a mechanical weak point during handling of the storage container. On the other hand, the foil cannot be too strong, since it must be ruptured by the plunger or by the consumable analytic product using the pressure imparted by the thrusting force of the plunger.
Particularly in small, battery operated compact analysis apparatus, one has the additional conflicting requirement that the speed with which the consumable product, in particular a test element, is to be removed must be high and, on the other hand, the battery energy consumption associated therewith should be low in order to carry out as many measurements as possible using one charge of batteries.
In accordance with prior art, these technical problems regarding the force to be produced, the speed of removal of the consumable product and the energy requirements are solved with a drive unit producing an overall constant thrusting force for the plunger effected by the force development of the drive motor and by an optional transmission, which is sufficiently high as to overcome the load peaks occurring during the transport path. Whether or not this is effected through choice of a more powerful drive motor having a corresponding higher battery energy consumption or through choice of a different transmission ratio depends on the particular application, i.e. on whether or not a rapid measurement sequence or low overall battery energy consumption is more important.
According to prior art, the drive mechanism is thereby designed to overcome a maximally occurring load and is optimized between the two extremes of minimum energy consumption and maximum transport time or maximum energy consumption and minimum transport time. However, according to prior art, an actual optimal solution can not be achieved, since the drive is over-dimensioned through long stretches of the consumable product forward path, since it is configured for the maximum occurring load and, in dependence on the design, cannot optimally satisfy both requirements with respect to speed and energy use in these regions.
Departing from this prior art, it is the underlying purpose of the invention to improve a device of the above mentioned kind for removing a consumable analytic product, in particular a test element, from a storage container as well as an associated method in such a manner that the requirements with respect to removal speed of the consumable product as well as with regard to minimizing the amount of energy consumption associated therewith are simultaneously improved, in particular, for very compact structures of an associated device.
In order to achieve this purpose, in the above mentioned device and in a respective corresponding method, the magnitude of the thrusting force exercised by the plunger during its thrusting motion for removal of a consumable product is controlled in dependence on the plunger position. The fundamental idea underlying the present invention is that the two above mentioned contradictory requirements with respect to rapid removal and low energy consumption can be simultaneously optimized using a plunger drive whose thrusting force changes in a load-adapted fashion in dependence on the thrusting path.
Within the framework of the present invention, it has been surprisingly discovered that the extremely difficult requirements in devices for removal of a consumable analytic product from a storage container can be solved using a plunger whose thrusting force changes as a function of the thrusting path. It has furthermore turned out that such a path or location dependent thrusting force can be effected in a simple fashion so that the overall removal process can be optimized simultaneously with respect to both the speed and the energy consumption requirements and not, as had previously been thought necessary, with regard to one requirement only or in the sense of a compromise solution.
For example comparative tests have shown, that a conventional drive optimized to the saving of energy requires a transport time of 20 seconds to remove a test strip from a drum-shaped magazine and, in a battery driven measuring apparatus, more than 500 test strips can be measured. If, on the other hand, the drive is optimized for rapid removal speed, the transport time assumes values of approximately 4 seconds and only 50 test strips can be measured with one battery charge. In contrast thereto, a device configured in accordance with the invention has transport time values between 4 and 5 seconds and more than 500 test strips can thereby be measured with one battery charge.
Using the invention, goals are thereby achieved which those of average skill in the art had been attempting to achieve for some time. In addition, the limitations with regard to the material and the thickness of the foil are less important with a device in accordance with the invention so that a larger number of more economical materials or materials which are better suited for the particular application are available.
In order to achieve particularly good results with respect to the removal speed of the consumable product, the associated energy consumption, as well as with regard to mechanical requirements and the associated costs, the following features are preferentially used individually or in combination with each other.
A first preferred feature can provide that the thrusting force be controlled in dependence on the thrusting path through which the plunger has traveled. The thrusting path is thereby preferentially determined relative to a component having a fixed position with respect to the device. This can e.g. be the initial position of the plunger, the end position of the plunger or the position of one of the foils. Alternatively, an absolute position measurement of the plunger is also possible.
In addition, the removal of a consumable analytic product can be advantageously improved by increasing the thrusting force during at least one of the following operational conditions: when the plunger penetrates through the foil covering the insertion opening, when the consumable product penetrates through the foil covering the removal opening, when positioning the removed consumable product into a predetermined working position, or when expelling a used consumable product out of a predetermined working position.
In this context, a working position is any predetermined, defined position which a consumable product must assume for its intended use, e.g. the location of a sample receptacle or a position in which an analytic measurement is carried out. The consumable product must normally be precisely positioned at such working positions so that corresponding guides or abutment elements are provided leading to an increase in the thrusting force needed to transport the consumable product. In general, the device in accordance with the invention can effect increased thrusting forces required in those regions in which increased load occurs, e.g. in the above mentioned positions, whereas the thrusting force can be lower in other regions along the forward path of the plunger. In particular, energy consumption is minimized, since an increased thrusting force is provided only in those regions where the plunger must overcome increased load.
In accordance with an additional preferred feature, the device is configured in such a fashion that the thrusting speed of the plunger is reduced in regions having increased thrusting force and increased in regions having reduced thrusting force. Using this rule, the overall transport time for removal of the consumable product can be particularly well optimized while taking into consideration the associated energy consumption.
A desired thrusting force-thrusting path dependence can, in principle, be realized using purely electronic means, wherein the thrusting motion of the plunger is controlled by electronic regulation of the drive unit. Towards this end, e.g. the power or the rate of revolution of the drive motor can be controlled or a transmission regulated. Further possibilities for electronic regulation comprise the use of stepping motors, electrically commutating motors, current regulation of the drive motor, pulse width modulation of the drive motor, or similar methods. Electronic regulation can advantageously effect a thrusting speed which is independent of the operational voltage. In general, however, such a regulation has the associated disadvantages of greater structural difficulty and expense and that the drive motor can normally not be kept at an optimized working point.
In accordance with a preferred feature of the invention, the drive unit includes a drive motor which can be driven with substantially constant drive power and/or with a substantially constant rate of revolution for effecting as optimal an energy use as possible by evenly loading the current source, e.g. a battery or a storage battery, and operating the drive motor at an operating point having good efficiency.
It has turned out within the context of the invention that these goals can be preferentially achieved when the thrusting motion of the plunger is controlled by a mechanical path control, particular a mechanical control having a cam or a curved path. A mechanical path control can have the added advantages of being simple and economical from a structural point of view while having low frictional losses. In addition, the transport position of the plunger along the thrusting path as well as the thrusting force or the thrusting velocity respectively can depend on the position of the plunger through working cooperation between the mechanical path control and the plunger without requiring the special distance or position sensor normally required by an electronic solution. The cooperative connection between the mechanical path control and the plunger can couple the position of the plunger and the thrusting force or the thrusting velocity respectively.
A mechanical path control can be effected in differing manners. In accordance with an additional advantageous feature, the path control can include a helically wound control element which can be driven by the drive unit for rotation about its longitudinal axis to control the feed of the plunger and which is connected to a carrier member to move the plunger in the thrusting direction during rotation of the control element. The rotation of the control element produced by the drive unit is thereby transformed into linear motion of the plunger.
A particularly simple structural solution can then be realized in accordance with an additional advantageous feature when the longitudinal axis of the control element extends in the direction of thrusting motion of the plunger. The plunger can thereby be disposed parallel and adjacent to the control element or, in accordance with a preferred feature, can penetrate axially through the control element to produce a particularly compact construction.
The pitch of the control element of the mechanical path control can be constant along the helically shaped winding. In this case, the driving torque of the drive unit is controlled to achieve a position-dependent thrusting force and the rate of revolution of the control element is varied to achieve a position-dependent thrusting speed.
In a preferred embodiment, the pitch of the control element changes along its helically shaped winding in correspondence with a desired thrusting force-position dependence for the plunger. In this case, and in accordance with an additional particularly preferred feature, the rate of revolution of the drive unit motor and/or the rate of revolution of the control element is substantially constant during advancement of the plunger.
A helically wound control element in accordance with the invention can be realized in a plurality of different ways. In a first advantageous configuration, the control element can include a cylindrical drum controller having a groove fashioned in the outer surface thereof, wherein the carrier member includes a tendon block engaging into the groove. The groove defines a thrust path having the desired characteristics. Conventional structures of this type include spindle drives for storage and retrieval units in high bay warehouses and are described in document EP-A 0357935. However, for the applications in accordance with the invention, and in particular for compact analysis apparatus, they tend to be rather large.
Therefore realization of a helically wound control element in the form of a cylindrical, helically wound transport spiral is particularly preferred, wherein the carrier member is configured as a carrier pin engaging into the windings of the transport spiral. When the transport spiral is turned, the carrier pin is transported in the axial direction of the transport spiral in dependence on the pitch of the transport spiral and the rate of revolution. The carrier pin is in working connection with the plunger so that the plunger is moved in a forward or backward direction in dependence on the direction of rotation of the transport spiral, with the thrusting force and thrusting velocity being determined by the transport spiral. In this manner, a particularly simple structure is realized for a device in accordance with the invention.
An analysis apparatus in accordance with the invention for analysis of a medical sample using a medical consumable product, in particular for carrying out an analysis using a test element, is characterized by comprising a device in accordance with the invention for removing an analytic consumable product from a storage container.
The device in accordance with the invention is particularly advantageously used in analysis apparatus which are operated independent of the power lines, e.g. using batteries or storage batteries. In such apparatus, the invention can have particular advantages for solving the problems associated with limited energy capacity of the battery or of the electrical power storage element while nevertheless transporting a maximum number of analytic consumable products. In addition, requirements with regard to limited power, optimized travel times for the plunger or the existence of a limited amount of space can be taken into consideration and satisfied and manufacturing costs can be kept low.